The Press
May 3 2008
Doctor suspected sexual abuse
by Dean Calcott
A doctor suspected
sexual abuse after examining a desperately sick Charlene Makaza, the trial of
her adoptive father was told yesterday.
In the High Court
in Christchurch, general practitioner Dr Graeme Carpenter was giving evidence
in the case of George Evans Gwaze, 56, who denies a charge of murder and two
counts of sexual violation of his 10-year-old adopted daughter, Charlene. She
died in Christchurch Hospital on January 7 last year.
The Crown says she
died after a violent sexual assault, and the defence that she succumbed from
natural causes, probably an overwhelming infection.
Carpenter told the
court that on January 5 last year he was nearing the end of a night shift in
the 24-hour surgery in Bealey Avenue when Charlene was brought in by family
members about 6.45am.
She was lying
still and unconscious, breathing rapidly with an occasional deep breath, and
her eyes were closed.
Her pulse was 180,
temperature over 40deg _ 37deg being normal _ and nurses said her
blood pressure was unreadable. On a scale which measured consciousness she
scored a three, the lowest possible.
"She was
desperately unwell. She needed hospital care right that second, and preferably
earlier," Carpenter said.
Nurses had already
called an ambulance and his only concern was maintaining the child until she
was taken to Christchurch Hospital, Carpenter said.
The family said
she was found like that earlier in the morning and had seemed well the night
before.
Her lungs were fill of crepitations, the sound
made when air is bubbling through fluid.
Carpenter
suspected Charlene suffered from meningococcal septicaemia,
a rare but deadly illness. She was given a saline drip to keep up fluid levels,
and an anal suppository of painkiller by a nurse.
After it was
administered, the nurse said she had found blood.
At that point
another possible diagnosis presented itself, one he did not particularly want
to consider, that of some sort of trauma or injury to the anus or rectum.
Carpenter said he
had not expected that and had not encountered it before. "It was
altogether upsetting and unsettling."
There had to be a
possibility some sort of abuse had occurred and any examination had to be
undertaken by someone skilled in sexual-abuse cases, Carpenter said.
He telephoned
Christchurch Hospital's emergency department, and explained the situation. He
did not mention any concerns about abuse but told staff a nurse had found blood
when she inserted a suppository, and that the rectum should be examined.
He was then advised
to administer antibiotics through the intravenous line, which he did.
The ambulance
arrived and he tried to impress on officers the need for speed to get to the
hospital.
He then noticed a
bluish tinge around the side of one of Charlene's feet, which indicated her body was shutting down, something which happened in extreme
illness.
It showed she was
even more ill than he realised, and it was a sign death was imminent, Carpenter
said.
The case resumes
on Monday.